What is privilege?*

When people hear they belong to a privileged group or benefit from something like "race privilege" or "gender privilege," they don't get it, or they feel angry and defensive about what they do get. Privilege has become one of those loaded words we need to reclaim so that we can use it to name and illuminate the truth.... As Peggy McIntosh describes it, privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they've done or failed to do. ... The existence of privilege doesn't mean I didn't do a good job, of course, or that I don't deserve credit for it. What it does mean is that I'm also getting something that other people are denied... The ease of not being aware of privilege is an aspect of privilege itself, what some call "the luxury of obliviousness." - Allan G. Johnson, Privilege, Power, and Difference. P. 23-25

Instructions

1. Please identify one or two identity groups, from the list below, in which you have privilege.

2. Reflect on situations listed for your identity. Take a few minutes and jot down your reflections to these questions:

Reading the example of situations and thinking about my privilege, I felt .........

How does this kind of privilege show up in my actions (consciously or not) at work, in my community or in other settings?

3. Ask yourself. What might I do to be more aware of my privilege in my daily activities.

Reflection Questions

How might your experience as a white person differ from the experience of a person of color in:

applying for a job?

passing police on the street?

preparing your child to go to school for the first time?

How might your experience as a cis heterosexual person differ from the experience of an LGBTQ person in:

expressing affection, love and comfort in public?

preparing to introduce your partner to your family of origin?

participating in a lunch discussion at work on what you did this weekend?

How might your experience as a Christian differ from the experience of a Jew, Muslim, or Atheist in:

How might your experience as a professional wage earner differ from the experience of someone who is unemployed in:

responding to school requests for supplies for your children?

responding to old acquaintances who want to meet up for lunch?

answering a want ad for a job 60 miles away?

*The content in in this blog post was created in collaboration with The Center for Assessment and Policy Development (CAPD), MP Associates and World Trust Educational Services, funded by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

When we talk about social justice work, a lot of our time is spent focusing on the injustices that face our world today. The work feels urgent and never-ending, which can easily turn over into feelings of burnout and overwhelm. For many organizers, the work centers on what we choose to resist rather than building a vision for the future. We don’t get the opportunity to answer the important question: what comes next?

Healing Justicespeaks the truth about the criminalization of young people of color, yet it also offers ideas for a future where young people are respected and have opportunities to heal.

A striking part of the film are the stories of vulnerability. During healing circles, attendees are invited to participate in ritual; artists create work that express their experiences of trauma and care; and community members find new ways to engage one another with transformative justice processes.

One of the most interesting examples in the film is the story of a victim whose car was stolen by a young person. You may have seen the clip already; it is one of the most popular stories fromt the film! In it, Sujatha Baliga, the Director of the Restorative Justice Project at Impact Justice, shares the story of a conference between that young person, the victim, and the victim’s friend:

This clip from our film, Healing Justice, describes in detail a successful restorative justice outcome. After every showing of the film we get lots of comments about how much viewers appreciated this "Tinkerbell" story!

In this clip from our film, Healing Justice, Sonya Shah, Founding Director of the Ahisma Collective, talks about the implications and systemic consequences of "behaviors" that girls of color who have been exposed to trauma may exhibit:

Healing Justice can bring up a lot of emotions in its viewers – and it is meant to. As we talked about in our brief overview of transformative learning, emotional reactions create a valuable avenue for change. To channel those emotions into action, we encourage viewers to form a discussion group where all members have seen the film.

World Trust has created a free, downloadable conversation guide to accompany the film and support ongoing discussions around the criminal legal system, its history, and its effects on communities of color today. The film and guide help to organize your group discussions so that you can move from emotion and reaction into action.

All participants’ voices are valued, and through collaboration you will explore what role you can play in undoing racism and connecting with others as we work for a more just judicial system. As we have shared in past blog posts, internal work begins with ourselves and our close communities first and it is part of a collective educational, reckoning and healing process that supports mass change.

Our most recent film, Healing Justice, is grounded in transformative learning theory (like all of World Trust’s films and curricula).

This learning model was developed by Jack Mezirow, who described transformative learning as “learning that transforms problematic frames of reference to make them more inclusive, discriminating, reflective, open, and emotionally able to change.”